Newton, IA. (July 15, 2012)Â –Â The first night race, and one-day show, of 2012 offered plenty of changing factors for teams at the Iowa Speedway, and Frank Kimmel returned to the top five with a 5th place finish at the night’s end.
Both practice sessions for ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competitors occurred during the heat of the afternoon. Kimmel and the Ansell/Menards Toyota team battled a tight condition throughout practice, but were near the top of the speed chart all afternoon. The Thorsport Racing team made changes to the #44 Toyota for Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell, which also took place in bright sunshine. Kimmel earned the 10th starting position, which was his fourth top ten qualifying effort in the last five races.
From the drop of the green flag, Kimmel aggressively gained positions in the opening laps, moving up to 6th, and settled inside the top ten throughout the first green flag run. The Iowa Speedway lends itself to some of the most competitive side-by-side racing on the ARCA Racing series circuit, and Kimmel was right in the middle of the action. For many laps, Kimmel battled hard to protect his top ten position racing door-to-door with the competition for numerous laps.
The event’s first caution flew at lap 74, under which, Kimmel came down pit road for four tires as well as adjustments to fix an ill-handling racecar, lacking side bite and rear grip off the corners. The Ansell/Menards team picked up a position on pit road and sent Kimmel out in 7th position. Kimmel was running 9th at a lap 113 caution flag and came to pit road for more adjustments as the tight condition from practice had plagued the team yet again. After restarting 11th, the pit stop allowed crew chief, Jeriod Prince, to employ an off-sequence strategy to gain track position on the following yellow flag.
Prince kept Kimmel on-track during the caution on lap 127, as Kimmel inherited the lead after communicating the car had felt the best it had all day long. Numerous cautions littered the subsequent laps, while Kimmel showed his prowess on restarts, keeping the competitors at bay. On lap, 152, Kimmel battled the tight condition through the center of the corner and surrendered the lead to eventual race winner, Alex Bowman. Kimmel led a total of 23 laps and ran in the top five through the duration of the event, and held on to his 5th place position during the green-white-checkered finish.
By finishing fifth, Kimmel secured his fourth top five finish and eighth top ten finish. While Kimmel lost a position in the series standings, he closed the gap on point leader, Chris Buescher, to 105 points. The finish also extended Kimmel streak of top tens at Iowa Speedway to six consecutive races.
“The Ansell/Menards Toyota ran pretty decent all night”, Kimmel said. “We were on a tightrope with the balance. If we tried to tighten it up off, it’d get so tight to turn in the middle and we struggled with that all day. It’s frustrating, because we work on it every week. One of these day’s we’re going to figure it out. I’m really proud of the effort, and the call to get the track position that allowed us to get up towards the front and get another top five finish.”
Race Recap:
Date:Â July 13th, 2012
Track:Â Iowa SpeedwayÂ
Race:Â 11 of 20 Â
Started: 10th
Finished:Â 5th
Driver Championship Points Standings: 4th Â
NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE:Â Â Chicagoland Speedway will host the 12th race on the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards circuit on Saturday, July 21st. The Ansell ActivArmr 150 will mark the 12th ARCA Racing Series event in Joliet, IL. Kimmel will showcase the Ansell ActivArmr brand on the hood of the #44 Menards Toyota in conjunction with Ansell’s title sponsorship of the event. Timing and scoring will be available on ARCAracing.com beginning with the opening practice at 6:05pm CT on Friday, July 20th. SPEED Channel will have live coverage of the 100 lap, 150 mile, event beginning at 4 pmCT (5 pmET) on Saturday, July 21st.
